President
Xi Jinping and his Swiss counterpart, Doris Leuthard, have both
expressed strong political will to advocate an open economy and
oppose protectionism, shortly before Xi's arrival in Switzerland.

Xi
published a signed article on Friday in Neue Zuercher Zeitung, a
leading Swiss daily newspaper, in which he spoke highly of
Switzerland's support for internationalization of the renminbi,
its participation in the founding of the Asian Infrastructure
Investment Bank and mutual visa exemption for diplomatic passport
holders. "We may actively explore the possibility of
upgrading the Free Trade Agreement and set a good example of
promoting a free and open international trade and investment system,"
Xi said in the article.

[...]

Leuthard,
the Swiss Confederation president, said in an exclusive interview
with China Daily on Thursday that Xi shares her philosophy that
openness and inclusiveness are necessary to bring win-win results for
the countries. "Only openness and an open economy can have
better results, and nowadays we cannot avoid going global,"
Leuthard said in Bern, the Swiss capital. "We fight against
protectionism, and President Xi shares the same values and
philosophy."

As a first
thought, we could say that these statements are compatible with
China's efforts to stabilize its position as a global economic power.
Xi Jinping's statements coincide with an era in which China is
breaking rapidly its traditional isolationism, in order to dominate
in the economic field, worldwide.

But it's
much more than that. The first goal of Xi Jinping is to find allies
among the Western neoliberal environment, as he sees that Donald
Trump will be extremely hostile against China and that he will seek
excuses to bring more tension in South China Sea. The statements of
Jinping's Swiss counterpart above, are a small sample of what Jinping
can achieve on this matter.

The second,
and probably most important goal of the Chinese president, is to send
some signals to the US big capital that China is willing to play by
the rules of the neoliberal establishment. China will be open for
further opportunities and investments under free market rules, with
increasingly less interference from the Chinese state. He probably
hopes that, in this way, may "buy" some peace from the US
plutocracy - a significant component of the US deep state - in order
to think twice before using Trump to provoke a dangerous conflict.

It seems
that Putin has already "bought" some peace, and this is
probably an extra reason of being treated so friendly by Trump.
According to documents reviewed by The Intercept, ExxonMobil under its CEO Rex Tillerson
frequently pressed the U.S. State Department for help in negotiating
complex business deals and overcoming foreign opposition to its
drilling projects.

Specifically
concerning Russia, “Exxon Mobil asked the U.S. ambassador to
press the Russians to approve a major drilling program, noting that a
'warming of U.S.-Russian relations' overall would also help the
company.”

Putin
may have thought that giving access to some oil resources to the
largest US oil company, could break up the US plutocratic front, in
order to reduce the pressure on Russia.

It
is also interesting that, as it seems, similar pressure was exercised
on Indonesia concerning a major gas field in the South China Sea: “in
Indonesia, the State Department acted as a advocate for Exxon Mobil
during contentious negotiations between the firm and the Indonesian
government over a major gas field in the South China Sea;”

This
could explain to some point why the US want to get rid of China from
the South China Sea. Recall that, Donald Trump's nominee for
secretary of state and former ExxonMobil Corp. chief, Rex Tillerson,
stated recently that "We're going to have to send China a
clear signal that first the island-building stops and second your
access to those islands is also not going to be allowed."

China,
of course, will never give up the South China Sea, as it is
considered extremely vital for its geopolitical interests. So
instead, the Chinese president, through his statements, invited the
Western capital to China, offering almost unlimited access to one of
the biggest and rapidly growing markets, hoping to "buy"
some peace, like Putin did through the resources.